May the FOAF be with you

I’ve been wondering whether to get myself a FOAF file. FOAF stands for “friend of a friend” and it is a method of publishing personal information about yourself in a machine-readable format. Or as the FOAF Wiki puts it:

“If you’re familiar with ‘blogging and providing RSS syndication of the content of your ‘blog, then one way to view FOAF is as syndicating yourself.”

I have to admit I’m still not sure about publishing personal stuff on the Web. I think this is partly a kiwi thing. Generally speaking New Zealanders are more reserved than, say, Americans. But I’m also concerned about the future potential of FOAF being hit on by marketeers and spammers, in the way that email is now. On the other hand I don’t want to be an “anonymous coward”, this weblog is my vehicle for publishing to the world so the world needs to know a little bit about me. Hmmm, still thinking about this one…